"Who's Packing Your Parachute?"

Once when visiting The Fellowship Room website, I was fascinated by the story of Charles Plumb, who was a U.S. Navy jet pilot in Vietnam. After 75 combat missions, his plane was destroyed by a surface-to-air missile. Plumb ejected and parachuted into enemy hands. He was captured and spent 6 years in a communist Vietnamese prison. He survived the ordeal and now lectures on lessons learned from that experience!

The man who packed Mr. Plumb’s parachute the day he fell into enemy hands, was a simple sailor, but played an integral part in saving Mr. Plumb’s life. Plumb thought of the many hours the sailor had spent at a long wooden table in the bowels of the ship, carefully weaving the shrouds and folding the silks of each chute, holding in his hands each time the fate of someone he didn’t know. Now, Plumb asks his audience, “Who’s packing your parachute?”

Dear reader, we need to recognize the people who have selflessly helped us along life’s way, without any thought of repayment — those folks who have encouraged us through life’s trials and difficulties — those folks who have packed our parachutes.

This writer is indeed thankful for the folks who have packed (and are still packing) mine!

—Mike Riley, Gospel Snippets